Backers say a new medical clinic on Madison would fill a gap in local services.

When Jim and Susan Morss moved to Bainbridge five years ago, they found a near perfect place to live: an island with good schools, parks and people.

What Bainbridge is missing, they say, is a medical center to match. They believe current facilities are sub-par and too many islanders are forced to travel to Seattle or peninsula to find healthcare to suit their needs.

“It’s the only thing that’s really lacking,” Susan Morss said. “The island is a fabulous place to live, but if you get hurt there is really nowhere to go.”

The Morsses are architects and their company, Morss Medical, designs the kind of clinics they envision for Bainbridge.

Together with fellow islander Rolf Hogger, president of MRJ Constructors, and the backing of a group of Bainbridge investors, they have developed a plan to build a two-story medical building on a parcel between Madison Avenue and State Route 305 just behind the First Baptist Church.

The city is reviewing their conditional use application, and the the Morsses hope to have building permits by the end of the year so Hogger can begin construction in March 2008.

If approved, the 26,000-square-foot medical center, capable of housing 15 physicians and specialists, would be built on a field above the Winslow ravine currently occupied by a rental house and a graffiti-splattered barn.

The building would be “L” shaped, designed to fit on the a footprint dictated by the steep banks of the gorge.

Visibility and parking are important for a medical building. The 35-foot elevation the Morsses have drafted for the center would be hard to miss from the highway and their design includes 94 parking spaces, 36 of which would be in an underground garage.

The clinic would be accessed from Madison Avenue and its proximity to the Fire Department’s helipad could make it a staging point for emergency flights.

The Morsses consider the building a “green project.” To absorb runoff the center would have “living roof” planted with sedum and the parking area would be paved with a porous material.

The center’s interior design will depend on what tenants it attracts. Physicians would design their own spaces, customized to fit the needs of their specific practices.

The Morsses want a core group of primary care doctors to set up shop, supplemented by specialists.

“First and foremost we would like to have urgent care on the island,” Jim said. “A place where if someone breaks a bone, they can go there.”

The Virginia Mason Clinic in Winslow, home to 15 physicians, currently dominates the island’s medical scene. The Morsses aren’t looking to step on Virginia Mason’s toes, but they do believe they can provide space for alternative care in a better facility.

Virginia Mason Winslow director Dr. Kim Leatham readily admits that their clinic is ready for a remodel.

She said her clinic’s doctors provide good services, but “there is absolutely no doubt that we need a new facility.”

The Seattle based medical group is planning to revamp the Bainbridge clinic, giving it room for more specialists. But since Virginia Mason is dedicated to remaining a part of the downtown core, a lot will depend on how the city’s plans for Winslow Way play out.

Leatham does think Bainbridge could support another clinic, especially one that would provide added primary and urgent care.

The Morsses and their partners believe their tenants would fill that need.

They hope to house local physicians looking for space tailored to the medical industry, professionals from the peninsula or Seattle looking for a toe-hold on Bainbridge and physicians who live on the island but commute to mainland clinics for work.

Space needed

Ophthalmologist Jason Cheung has lived on Bainbridge and practiced in Silverdale for a decade. After years of searching he finally found a suitable space for a part-time office on the island in May.

Good medical space is hard to come by, he said.

“Medical office spaces need to be clean, bright, warm and inviting to patients,” Cheung said. “There are a lot of rental spaces open on Bainbridge, but only a few fit that criteria.”

Cheung said he had discussed the building with the Morsses before and would consider becoming a tenant when it opened. He said he liked the idea of a “medical condo type arrangement” and specialized space is very important.

To practice ophthalmology, for example, he requires custom chairs, a microscope and a projector for eye exams, equipment that other MDs wouldn’t use.

Cheung thinks Bainbridge is ready to support more medical services and said he has seen more specialists looking to set up offices on the island.

That wasn’t true 10 years ago, retinal specialist Todd Schneiderman said. Schneiderman, who also lives on Bainbridge and works in Silverdale, said the population on the island has finally reached a level where specialized MDs like gynecologists and cardiologists, outside of Virginia Mason and the handful of other full time physicians, could find a ready clientele.

“There are a lot of sub-specialists who now would conceivably come to Bainbridge because the population is as it is,” he said.

John Kist, who lives on the island but commutes for his job as administrative manager for Seattle Cardiology, said many of his company’s Bainbridge patients, especially seniors, would appreciate specialty care on the island.

“I know our patients would love to not have to travel so far,” he said.

Kist faced the medical challenge posed by island living when his wife was pregnant with their second child. He drove her onto the ferry and they arrived at Swedish Hospital in Seattle a half hour before the baby was born.

Natal care and other more intensive emergency services are not likely to be included in the proposed clinic, but the Morrses see an acute need for a emergency care on the island.

They hope a stand-alone hospital will eventually be built so that critical patients wouldn’t have to endure a helicopter, ferry or long car ride for help.

“Right now if you get really hurt, an ambulance shows up and they ask you what hospital you want to go to. No matter which it is, it’s going to be 55 minutes,” Susan said.

The Morsses believe their site would be the ideal location for a small scale hospital supplemented by their proposed clinic.

Leatham said Virginia Mason has begun to study the feasibility of a small hospital on the island as well.

For now the Morsses, Hogger and their partners are focused on getting their building approved and resuscitating the Bainbridge healthcare industry.

“It’s been a long time coming for the island,” Hogger said.